Tying It Together

We've posted the "Meeting Minutes", from our latest gathering. We've had fruitful discussions and encouraging conversations. Now, let's get to the root, and tie it together, with the basis for our fellowship: the Catechism of the Catholic Church.

We begin with sections #1601 and #1602 in the Catechism. From here, we learn what marriage is, and why it was created. And, most importantly, we learn by Whom it was created.

• 1601 "The matrimonial covenant, by which a man and a woman establish between themselves a partnership of the whole of life, is by its nature ordered toward the good of the spouses and the procreation and education of offspring.. 

Marriage is, above all, a covenant. Two become one - and, unlike goods or things in a contract, our whole persons are freely exchanged and totally given, to our spouse.  And, in this covenant, we are not alone: 

• 1601 "..This covenant between baptized persons has been raised by Christ the Lord to the dignity of a sacrament."84
  

Christ, Our Lord, unites us in this marriage bond - and, He sustains us in our ability to become one; He - in union with the Father and the Holy Spirit - allow us to abide in this state of free and total gift of self. 

We, as husband and wife, are able to live faithfully in this covenant because we were made to do so.  But, how do we know that? 

God is Love. And, we were made in His image and likeness. 

• 1602 Sacred Scripture begins with the creation of man and woman in the image and likeness of God and concludes with a vision of "the wedding-feast of the Lamb.."
  

We realize that though we were made in the image and likeness of the God Who is Love, there are daily struggles for every married couple. Though we are dedicated to our marriage covenant, and we work hard to faithfully live our call to total self giving, it can - at times - seem completely mysterious to us, how to do so. 

But, we are assured, that's not unexpected. In fact, it would be ridiculous to expect it to be otherwise. 

• 1602 "..85 Scripture speaks throughout of marriage and its "mystery," its institution and the meaning God has given it, its origin and its end, its various realizations throughout the history of salvation, the difficulties arising from sin and its renewal "in the Lord" in the New Covenant of Christ and the Church.86
  

Despite our personal inadequacies or deficiencies to image the God Who is Love - especially when loving our spouses, we have hope. For, we have Christ. And, He makes all things new.